Part 80

1822. The Caledonian canal, uniting the British sea with the Atlantic ocean, was opened. It is a great national work, but not much in requisition.

1822. ITURBIDE dissolved the Mexican congress in the same manner as Cromwell dissolved the long parliament, and the same day formed a new legislative assembly, composed of persons favorable to his plans. This step was fatal to his reign.

1825. CHARLES ROBERT MATURIN, an Irish divine, dramatist, and poet, died. His genius was great, but not always under the control of a pure taste.

1840. Earthquake at Zante, which demolished 240 houses in the town, and injured nearly all the rest. The villages and country houses of the island were destroyed, or greatly injured.

OCTOBER 31.

1448. JOHN PALÆOLOGUS, emperor of Constantinople, died. He reigned 29 years, and resisted the invasion of the Turkish foe, who pressed upon his borders.

1517. Commencement of the reformation by Martin Luther, who on this day published his 95 theses against the papal indulgences, &c.

1579. JOHN STADIUS, a German historian and mathematician, died at Paris. He tarnished his scientific knowledge with astrological calculations.

1659. JOHN BRADSHAW died; celebrated as president of the tribunal which tried and condemned the king, Charles I. He was afterwards deprived of his office by Cromwell, to whose usurpations he was opposed; at the restoration his bones were dug up and hanged at Tyburn.

1665. An act called the "five mile act," passed by the English parliament, prohibiting nonconforming ministers from going within 5 miles of a town sending a member to parliament. This was to prevent them entering the pulpits of episcopalians vacated on account of the plague.

1678. From the evidence of Oates and others, the commons of England passed a resolution that there existed a hellish plot of the papists to assassinate king Charles.

1732. VICTOR AMADEUS, king of Sardinia and duke of Savoy, died.

1735. General OGLETHORPE re-embarked for America, accompanied by John Wesley and other missionaries, with several families of settlers.

1751. JAMES LOGAN, governor of Pennsylvania after the death of the proprietor, died. He was a native of Ireland, distinguished for his talents and learning, and came to America with Penn.

1760. The foundation stone of Blackfriars bridge over the Thames was laid.

1765. WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, duke of Cumberland, died. He was the second son of George II of England, and commanded at many important battles in the German wars.

1782. LOUIS ELIZABETH DE LA VERGNE, a celebrated French general, died. He was the friend of learned men, and the author of numerous works.

1793. JEAN PIERRE BRISSOT DE WARVILLE, and 20 others, Girondists, condemned on the previous day, were guillotined at Paris. They were generally opposed to the death of the king and the violent and bloody measures pursued by Marat and Robespierre.

1803. The United States frigate Philadelphia, captain Bainbridge, grounded on a rock three and a half miles from Tripoli, and was taken after an action of 4 hours, having thrown over all her guns in the vain hope of getting off.

1806. Battle of Strelitz; the French general Savery with 600 horse took the place, and captured the hereditary prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

1806. Battle of Anklan; the Bavarians defeated the Prussians under general Bila, and took him and 4,000 men prisoners.

1806. About this time a revolution took place at St. Domingo; the black king of Hayti, Dessalines, was killed, and succeeded by Christophe.

1812. The Cossacks under Platoff defeated the French rear guard near Kolotsk with terrible slaughter.

1812. The French defeated by Witgenstein at Tchasniki, with the loss of 900 killed and 800 taken.

1832. ANTONIO SCARPA, professor of anatomy at Pavia, died, aged 86. He stood, for nearly half a century, by the common consent of his countrymen, at the head of anatomy and surgery in Italy.

1838. NOAH WORCESTER, an eminent philanthropist and founder of the Massachusetts Peace society, died. He was an extraordinary man, and entirely self-taught. In 1815 he published _A Solemn View of the Custom of War_, which produced a strong impression, and has been circulated in different languages in Europe.

1842. SOLOMON HERSCHELL, chief rabbi of the German and Polish Jews in London, died, aged 82, and was buried with great solemnity. He was a majestic figure, with a look of one of the old fathers, and an object of considerable mark in the streets of London.

1847. A quarrel took place between the police in Rio de Janeiro and some sailors belonging to the United States vessels of war lying in the harbor. The sailors and an officer were imprisoned, which led to a serious difficulty between the two governments.

1848. STEPHEN WATTS KEARNEY, the conqueror of New Mexico, died at St. Louis, aged 54. He had been in the army since 1812, and his character and bearing as an officer were unsurpassed.

1849. The French cabinet, on being informed that they were wanting in dignity, resigned their commissions to their president.

1849. A remarkable meteoric stone fell at Charlotte, North Carolina.

1850. Queen ISABELLA opened the Cortez at Madrid in the new palace on the Plaza de Cervantes.

1855. RIVAS sworn into office as president of Nicaragua, Walker declining in his favor at Grenada.

NOVEMBER.

NOVEMBER 1.

51 B. C. CICERO sat down before Pindenissum, a city in Cilicia.

79. Pompeii and Herculaneum buried by an eruption of Vesuvius.

1290. The persons of all the English Jews, 16,511, were banished, and their estates and treasures confiscated to the crown.

1399. JOHN V (_the Conqueror_), duke of Brittany, died.

1483. HENRY STAFFORD, duke of Buckingham, beheaded. He was the vile instrument of the third Richard's usurpation, and was executed by that king's order, without any legal process.

1596. PETER PITHOU, a learned and eloquent French civilian, died. He visited England, and published some valuable works on law, history, and classical literature, and restored _Phædrus_ and other ancient books which had long been lost.

1607. Sir JAMES MELVILLE died. He was a courtier, in the strictest sense of that word. To him the court was the world, and its rules of action his.

1653. The parliament of the English commonwealth chose a new council of state.

1678. WILLIAM CODDINGTON, governor of Rhode Island, died. He became dissatisfied with the ecclesiastical government in Massachusetts, and in 1638 associated himself with 170 others, who purchased Rhode Island of the natives. He was a man of learning, and contributed more than any other, perhaps, to the establishment of the colony of Rhode Island, and laying the foundation of civil and religious liberty in America.

1683. The counties of Albany, Dutchess, Kings, Orange, Queens, Suffolk, Richmond, Ulster, and Westchester, N. Y., erected.

1700. CHARLES II, king of Spain, died. He was the last of the eldest branches of the Austrian princes who reigned in Spain.

1710. Lord HAVERSHAM, a noted British peer, died. He was a "constant" speaker in the house of lords.

1714. JOHN RADCLIFFE, an English physician of great eminence, died. The university of Oxford is indebted to him for the library and infirmary which bears his name, and for an annuity of £600 for two traveling fellowships.

1724. HUMPHREY PRIDEAUX died; an English divine, historian, and critic.

1730. LOUIS FERDINAND MARSIGLI, an Italian nobleman, died. He was famous in arms and in letters, and founded the academy of arts and sciences at Bologna, called the Institute.

1755. Earthquake at Lisbon, by which it is supposed about 50,000 persons perished. Every building worthy of notice was prostrated. Peerless pool was lifted from its bed; the Mios lake in Norway vibrated with the canals of Amsterdam; the fountains of Tangier were stopped, and artificial tides flowed every fifteen minutes at Gibraltar.

1765. Stamp act went into operation in America. The great dissatisfaction it created, was manifested by the tolling of bells, and other solemnities.

1769. LA SALLE arrived at the mouth of the Miami, having seventeen men in his company, the rest being dismissed, to return with furs to Niagara, when he embarked at the bay of Puans.

1770. ALEXANDER CRUDEN died; a Scottish writer, and corrector of the press, whose literary labors were notable. He was found dead on his knees, in the attitude of prayer.

1771. JOHN EYRE sentenced to be transported beyond seas, for stealing a few quires of paper. He was worth £30,000, yet committed and confessed the deed.

1775. PETER JOSEPH BERNARD died; a French writer of operas and other lighter pieces, which for their ease and elegance, procured for him the name of _le gentil Bernard_.

1783. CHARLES LINNÆUS (_the Younger_) died. He succeeded his father as professor of botany at Upsal.

1793. GEORGE GORDON died; an Englishman who led the opposition to the papists in 1780, which gave rise to the riots of that year. His life from that time was spent in legal censures and imprisonments, and he finally died in Newgate prison.

1794. HENRY HOOGEVEEN died; an eminent Dutch philologist, of great learning and industry.

1794. Rhinefield, a fortress built on a rock on the left bank of the Rhine, abundantly provided and defended by 2000 men, surrendered at the first summons of the French.

1805. Captain WRIGHT, of the British navy, died in the Temple at Paris. Bonaparte is accused of having suffered him to be put to the torture and strangled.

1806. French entered Kustrin, where they took 4000 Prussian prisoners, 90 cannon, and sufficient stores to supply the army two months.

1806. French under Mortier took Cassel and all Hesse.

1813. Four large British vessels, and a number of boats, attacked the advance guard of the United States army, under general Wilkinson, and were repulsed.

1815. JOHN COAKLEY LETTSOM, a distinguished London physician, died. He was long known by his public and private benevolence, his skill, and his numerous writings, moral and medical.

1818. The first steam boat on the lakes, called from an Indian chief, Walk-in-the-Water, left Buffalo on her first trip. The boat cost $70,000, including the sum paid Fulton and Livingston for patent.

1819. _The North Georgian Gazette and Winter Journal_, first published on board the Hecla discovery ship, in Winter harbor, off Melville island, in the Polar sea. The 21st number closed its polar existence, but it rose again in London.

1834. JOHN HOWARD died in Fayette co., Ga., aged 103. He was in the revolutionary army, and received five wounds at the battle of Guilford. His sight continued good till his hundredth year, and he never used spectacles.

1835. THOMAS TAYLOR died; an English author, long known by the appellation of _the Platonist_. His works comprise 23 vols. quarto, and 40 vols. octavo; the greatest of which are complete translations of Aristotle and Plato, illustrated copiously from the ancient commentators.

1835. WILLIAM MOTHERWELL, a Scottish poet of considerable reputation, died.

1842. LOUIS D. JOSE, usually called _Portuguese Joe_, was burnt to death in the hotel at New Orleans in which he kept the bar. He was captain of the maintop on board the ship Saratoga, at the battle on lake Champlain, and nailed the colors to the mast after they had been shot away by the British.

1843. JOHN PARISH ROBERTSON, a Scottish merchant in South America, died at Calais. He established an extensive business, and introduced many useful improvements, which the distracted partisans of that country could not appreciate; he was deprived of a large property which he had accumulated, and retired to England, where he produced two works on South America, of some merit.

1845. SAMUEL HARRISON SMITH, well known as the editor of the _Philadelphia New World_, and the first to establish the _National Intelligencer_, died at Washington.

1849. JABEZ W. HUNTINGTON, of Connecticut, a distinguished senator of the United States, died at Norwich, Conn.

1849. ELIZUR GOODRICH, professor of law in Yale college, and some time mayor of New Haven, died, aged 88. His removal from the office of collector of customs, at New Haven, immediately on the accession of Jefferson, gave occasion to the famous letter of that president, in which he avowed his principle of removal for political opinions.

1849. JEFFREY CHIPMAN died at Kalamazoo, Mich., aged 60. He was a native of Rutland, Vt., and afterwards a magistrate at Canandaigua, N. Y., before whom William Morgan, the apostate free mason, was arraigned for larceny, and committed to Ontario jail, whence he was abducted. In all the subsequent trials, J. Chipman was the first witness called.

1852. Battle of Hermasillo; the French count Boulbon de Raousset, who led an enterprise upon Sonora, was defeated, and his expedition wholly overthrown.

1855. Accident on the Missouri and Pacific rail road; an excursion train going to celebrate the opening of the road, was precipitated through a bridge thirty feet into the river, by which the chief engineer of the road, Thomas S. O'Sullivan, and 24 others, were killed, and a great number injured, many of them prominent citizens of St. Louis.

NOVEMBER 2.

1656. A. M. The deluge began on the 17th day of the 2d month, answering to our November 2, on the supposition that the original civil year of the Hebrews began on the 16th of September, and contained 354 days.

285. B. C. PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS, of Egypt, so memorable as a patron of learning, commenced his reign upon this Julian day; the year following that in which Pyrrhus was driven from Macedonia. It is the date of the _Septuagint_.

1502. COLUMBUS entered the harbor which he named Porto Bello. The cazique was painted black, but all his subjects red. They all wore small golden ornaments in their nostrils; and the men a shell, and the women a fillet of cotton about their loins.

1552. CLAUDE D'ANNEBAUT, a French admiral, died; distinguished for his bravery and wisdom.

1600. RICHARD HOOKER, an eminent English divine, died. His _Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_ in 8 books, procured him great fame and popularity.

1610. RICHARD BANCROFT died; chaplain to queen Elizabeth, bishop of London, and archbishop of Canterbury.

1655. A committee appointed by the council of the lord protector of England to encourage trade and commerce.

1692. ALEXANDER MENZIKOFF, a Russian prince, died in exile. He rose from the occupation of a pastry cook, and fell back to his original level in consequence of his pride and ostentation.

1716. ENGELBERT KŒMPFER, an eminent German botanist, died. Besides his works on botany, he wrote a _History of Japan_.

1726. SOPHIA DOROTHEA, queen of George I of England, died at the castle of Ahlen in Hanover, in which she had been immured since 1694 on a charge of an intrigue with count Koningsmarke; a charge which was never proved and generally disbelieved. She was often solicited to rejoin her husband. To the English who also made the proposal, she said, "If I am guilty I am not fit to be your queen; if I am innocent your king is not fit to be my husband."

1758. The Belliqueux, a French ship of war from Quebec, driven into Lundy road where she was taken possession of by the English; value estimated at £150,000.

1759. CHARLES HANBURY WILLIAMS, an English poet and ambassador, died.

1772. Town meeting in Boston, at which committees of correspondence were appointed by the "Sons of Liberty." Adams and Warren were among the originators of this plan, which was soon followed by the other states. These committees were undoubtedly the origin of the congress.

1783. WASHINGTON issued from head quarters, Rocky Hill, near Princeton, his farewell orders to the American armies.

1783. CHARLES COLLE, a distinguished French comic writer, died.

1788. JOHN HENDERSON, an English scholar, died. He displayed at a very early period of life, an uncommon thirst after knowledge, which he gratified with unremitted ardor. "The virtues of his heart were superior even to the astonishing powers of his understanding;" he died however, the victim of intemperance.

1794. FRANÇOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRES BERNIS, a French ecclesiastic, and courtier, died, aged 80. His talents and judgment were of a high order.

1812. Battle of Ghatz; the Cossacks under Platoff defeated a division of the French, and took 70 wagons, 20 cannons and some thousands of exhausted and helpless prisoners. Denizoff defeated another French division the same day, captured 40 loaded wagons and 1000 prisoners.

1818. SAMUEL ROMILLY, a learned English statesman, died by his own hand, in consequence of the death of his wife.

1825. The city of Albany celebrated the opening of the Erie canal with great ceremony.

1828. THOMAS PINCKNEY, a general in the United States army, died. It was under his command that the Indian war in which general Jackson distinguished himself, was undertaken and brought to a successful issue.

1840. ANTHONY CARLISLE, an eminent English surgeon, died. He was also a man of high literary and scientific attainments, and president of the royal college of surgeons.

1850. SAMUEL YOUNG, a New York statesman, died at Ballston, aged 71. His official career was illustrated by the most remarkable integrity, by talents of the highest order, and by a character of the most marked individuality.

NOVEMBER 3.

361. CONSTANTIUS, the last of the sons of Constantine the great, died, after a reign of 23 years, and was succeeded by Julian.

461. LEO I (_the Great_) pope, died. Rome was pillaged fourteen days by Genseric during his reign.

1327. JAMES II (_the Just_), king of Arragon, died, aged 65; deservedly regretted for his moderation, courage, benevolence and magnanimity. He conquered Sicily, and waged a long war against the Moors and the people of Navarre. He had the good fortune to unite Valencia and Catalonia to his crown.

1369. That famous code of Godfrey, called the _Assize of Jerusalem_, restored by John d'Ibilen, count of Jaffa, was finished under the revision of sixteen native commissioners for the use of the Latin kingdom of Cyprus.

1493. COLUMBUS, on his second voyage to the new world, descried land, which in honor of the day he called Dominica.

1580. Sir FRANCIS DRAKE returned from his voyage round the world.

1603. HENRY IV of France granted to Pierre du Gast, sieur de Monts, a patent of the American territory, from the 40th to the 46th degree of north latitude, with power to colonize and rule it, and to subdue and Christianize its native inhabitants; and the exclusive right to the commerce of peltry in Acadie and the gulf of St. Lawrence.

1611. ANTONIO PEREZ, a distinguished Spanish statesman and author, died at Paris, where he retired when disgraced at the court of Spain. He twice escaped the inquisition, and even eluded the emissaries sent to murder him, but although highly esteemed by the learned men of France and England, he died miserably poor.

1640. The long parliament of England began; Wm. Lenthal was chosen speaker.

1643. JOHN BAINBRIDGE died at Oxford; a physician and astronomer of high reputation.

1669. CHARLES DRELINCOURT, a French Calvinistic divine, died. His _Consolations against the Fear of Death_ have passed through numerous editions, and been translated into several languages.

1680. The great comet of this year approached so near the earth as in many places to occasion no small alarm.

1710. LUKE ROTGANS, a Dutch poet, died. After being engaged two years in the wars of Holland he retired to his country seat to devote himself to poetry.

1739. CHARLES JERVAS, an English painter, died. He is immortalized more by Pope's panegyric than by his own pictures.

1741. BEHRING wrecked on the island which bears his name.

1760. Battle of Torgau; the Austrians under Daun defeated by Frederick II of Prussia, with the loss of 20,000 men, 8,000 of whom were taken. Prussian loss 13,000.

1762. The remarkable peace between England and France was signed at Fontainebleau.

1771. First newspaper printed in Albany, N. Y.

1771. An attempt was made by count Pulaski and some other Polish nobleman to carry off Stanislaus Augustus, the king. They took him prisoner, but after wandering about all night, in the morning they found themselves near where they set out, and were obliged to liberate their captive.

1774. GLOUCESTER RIDLEY, an eminent English divine, died. He commenced life as an actor.

1775. St. Johns surrendered to the Americans. General Carleton in attempting to cross the St. Lawrence with 800 men, was attacked by 300 Green Mountain boys under colonel Warren and compelled to retire; which induced the garrison to capitulate. They found 17 brass and 22 iron cannons, 2 howitzers, 7 mortars, 800 stand of arms, &c.

1775. VALENTINE JAIMERAI DUVAL, an extraordinary French character, died. He at first gained his subsistence by watching poultry and sheep; but by perseverance and labor he obtained books and maps, became one of the most learned men of his time, and enjoyed the patronage of princes and the notice of the learned.

1787. ROBERT LOWTH, an eminent English bishop, died; known by his translation of Isaiah, "the sublimest poetry in the world."

1793. MARY OLYMPE DE GOUGES, a French authoress, guillotined. Becoming disgusted with the brutalities of the revolutionists, she turned her pen against them, and fell a victim to their vengeance.

1797. WILLIAM ENFIELD, an eminent English dissenting minister died; known by many ingenious and useful publications.

1812. Battle near Wiazma; the French under Ney, Davoust, and Beauharnois defeated by the Russians with the loss of 6,000 killed, and 3,500 taken prisoners, and 28 cannon. Of the wounded French, all who fell must have unquestionably perished, as in the night the Russian winter set in, with a degree of iron severity almost unknown to the oldest inhabitants; on the following morning all was buried under a deep, wide waste of snow.

1832. JOHN LESLIE died; an eminent Scottish chemist, mathematician, and natural philosopher, inventor of the differential thermometer, and author of various scientific works. He rose from humble life, and received the honor of knighthood for his acquirements.

1834. DR. HORNER, died at Zurich, Switzerland. He accompanied Krusenstern in his first Russian voyage round the world, and wrote the _Natural History of Russia_.

1839. CARTER BERKLEY, an eminent Virginia physician, aged 72, died while feeling the pulse of a dying patient. He was a lineal descendant of sir William Berkley, and an excellent character.

1840. St. Jean d'Acre bombarded by the allied British and Turkish fleets. The firing commenced at half past 2 P. M., and ceased at 6. The magazine, containing 500 barrels of powder, was blown up, over which about 2,000 soldiers were stationed, who were nearly all buried in the ruins. The number of killed in the town is unknown; loss of the British and allies 18 killed and 42 wounded. The Egyptians evacuated the place on the following morning, and it was possessed by the conquerors, who found 121 mounted guns and 20 mortars on the walls, and 97 brass field pieces and 97 mortars in store, besides stores of all kinds and the military chest, valued altogether at about one million pounds.

NOVEMBER 4.

1493. COLUMBUS discovered the island of Guadaloupe, the largest of the Carib or Cannibal islands, called by the natives Carucueria. The drinking vessels of this fierce people were formed of human skulls. They here saw the pine apple.

1611. NICHOLAS LE FEVRE (or _Faber_), a learned and ingenious French writer, died. He was more ready to assist others than to appear as an author himself.

1613. EDWARD BREREWORD, a learned English antiquary, died.

1631. Lady MARY, eldest daughter of king Charles I, and subsequently the wife of William prince of Orange, born.

1673. The house of commons, in England, sent for to the house of lords, and prorogued, for addressing the king against a standing army.